A Case Study of Software Replacement

• Main Authors: Marta Kristín Lárusdóttir, Sigrún Eva Ármannsdóttir
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Usability; user testing; user’s environment; think-aloud; replacing software; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.630.2658; http://myschool.ru.is/Files/ACaseStudyofSoftwareReplacement.pdf

Abstract: This paper describes a case study, where the impact of introducing to users a new software system to replace an existing one was measured in the users ’ own environment. Workers at an aluminum company in Iceland used an old character-based system for keeping track of spare parts for maintenance. When planning to introduce new Windows software for solving these tasks, a decision was made to measure the effect of the replacement by doing usability evaluations with the users. First, the old system was evaluated, then the new one shortly after introducing it to users and finally, the new one again after six months usage. The results show that the new system does not in all cases give the users a more effective and efficient system for solving their tasks. Still the users were more satisfied with the new system. Furthermore, tasks that scored below a somewhat unidentified margin in the usability evaluation did not improve in terms of effectiveness and efficiency after the six months usage of the new system.